Gone Cuckoo-Finally a Beha Joins the Collection

[PowerClocks]

(I have placed a request for info on this clock in the Wood Movement Section and the Cuckoo Clock forum on Facebook) I have steadfastly refuse over the last 40 years to buy Cuckoo Clocks, My wife loves them but I have never been able to warm to them myself, that is till I found this one, an oddity to say the least, as I can not find anything similar I thought to reach out to the NAWCC membership to see if anyone else has pictures or information of something similar.

The length of the pendulum leads me to believe it is a purpose build movement and original to the case, Modifying an existing movement to suit this case would not be an impossible task, merely an unlikely one, as I have said previously the dial may or may not be the one it left the factory with. What are the thoughts out there on this oddity. I hope to have it home by the middle of next month and any information I obtain will I hope assist in its sympathetic restoration. All the best from OZ.

 

[JTD]

I agree with you about cuckoo clocks in general, but I do like this one a lot.

What does it say on the dial ? (The photo is not very sharp and I can't read the lower words even when enlarged). The upper word looks like Freidrich - if that's meant to be Friedrich, then it's spelt wrong.

JTD

 

[PowerClocks]

I agree with you about cuckoo clocks in general, but I do like this one a lot.

What does it say on the dial ? (The photo is not very sharp and I can't read the lower words even when enlarged). The upper word looks like Freidrich - if that's meant to be Friedrich, then it's spelt wrong.

JTD

I took a look for you, it says Freidrich Bishop Stortford, I don't like the dial, it is old from what my agent that picked it up says but I think (and he does too) the clock is older than the dial, I will (when I get some ratification) perhaps get a special Baked Enamel Dial made and a bottom finial, that is missing. On close inspection there is a thick (wide) brass rim around the inside of the case for the dial which could mean there was a thicker Alabaster Dial in place previously.

 

[Les harland]

Bishop Stortford is a town in Hertfordshire UK
It is just North of London

 

[JTD]

Bishop Stortford is a town in Hertfordshire UK
It is just North of London

It is indeed, but its official name is Bishop's Stortford (sometimes the apostrophe is omitted, even in official notices, which results in Bishops Stortford), which makes me wonder if that and Freidrich are both errors.

Perhaps there was a retailer called Freidrich, but I have not been able to find one.

JTD

 

[PowerClocks]

Bishop Stortford is a town in Hertfordshire UK
It is just North of London

Yes, I looked it up, I could not find a Freidrich as a Clockmaker in a Google search, perhaps someone with better Greman Language skills can chime it? I do like a mystery, I think I will be working on the research for quite a while, I have no idea where i could get a replica Alabaster dial made but I do know where to get a custom made baked enamel dial done so that is what it may get, I will of course keep the one it came with, it is part of the history of the clock.

 

[JTD]

Yes, I looked it up, I could not find a Freidrich as a Clockmaker in a Google search, perhaps someone with better Greman Language skills can chime it? I do like a mystery, I think I will be working on the research for quite a while, I have no idea where i could get a replica Alabaster dial made but I do know where to get a custom made baked enamel dial done so that is what it may get, I will of course keep the one it came with, it is part of the history of the clock.

I am not sure what a native German speaker (I am one such) can add, but I can tell you that Freidrich would be a very, very unusual name, one that I have never come across. However, non-German speakers very often muddle 'ei' and 'ie' - you often see 'Keininger' written where 'Kieninger' is what the writer means.

As for the dial, I cannot quite picture this clock with an alabaster dial, but I suppose it is possible.

JTD

 

[PowerClocks]

I am not sure what a native German speaker (I am one such) can add, but I can tell you that Freidrich would be a very, very unusual name, one that I have never come across. However, non-German speakers very often muddle 'ei' and 'ie' - you often see 'Keininger' written where 'Kieninger' is what the writer means.

As for the dial, I cannot quite picture this clock with an alabaster dial, but I suppose it is possible.

JTD

Yep, I have some very interesting Torsion Clocks and I often struggled with Kieninger, I don't have any now, I concentrated on 1880 and earlier torsion clocks with special escapements like Verge Escapement and Cylinder Escapements, I did add one with a Pinwhel Escapement a few years ago that is not pre 1880.

Alabaster would not be my choice for a dial, the ei-ie thing could easily be a typo by the dial maker or printer, Silver Electroplating was not around in the Biedermeier Period, the case according to my agent fits in with the Biedermeier style and appears to pre-date Silver Electroplating, so the dial is most probably wrong.

I offer my best guess, The original dial was either broken and replaced or the clock was a special build and the Clock Shop keen to display something to bring customers in the door with their name on it (the inference being their skilled technicians made it) and had the dial made for Advertising Purposes, Many Clock Shops had Jewelers Regulators and stunning clocks that were not for sale just to bring Customers in to see them and adjust their watches from the beautiful clocks on display. Going into the shop on the hour to hear the Cuckoo may have been a drawcard.

Graeme Power

 

[the 3rd dwarve]

I have bought alabaster from Colorado for projects before. Maybe they can help you.

D~

Colorado Alabaster Supply

Colorado Alabaster Supply
P. O. Box 548
Fort Collins, CO 80522

Phone/Fax:
(970) 221-0723

 

[JTD]

Alabaster would not be my choice for a dial, the ei-ie thing could easily be a typo by the dial maker or printer, Silver Electroplating was not around in the Biedermeier Period, the case according to my agent fits in with the Biedermeier style and appears to pre-date Silver Electroplating, so the dial is most probably wrong.

The present dial is certainly not from the Biedermeier period.

JTD

 

[PowerClocks]

I have bought alabaster from Colorado for projects before. Maybe they can help you.

D~

Colorado Alabaster Supply

Colorado Alabaster Supply
P. O. Box 548
Fort Collins, CO 80522

Phone/Fax:
(970) 221-0723

Thank you for that, even if I don't use it specialist contacts are worth having.

 

[PowerClocks]

The present dial is certainly not from the Biedermeier period.

JTD

spot on, it is original to the clock though, the clock is older than the dial which melds into my idea of this having been an advertising clock in a shop.

 

[Robert Gift]

I agree with you about cuckoo clocks in general, but I do like this one a lot.
What does it say on the dial ? (The photo is not very sharp and I can't read the lower words even when enlarged). The upper word looks like Freidrich - if that's meant to be Friedrich, then it's spelt wrong.
JTD

Wenjoyed our cuckoo clock obtained from S&H Green Stamps. (Probably the cheapest made.)
Later a garage sale cuckoo clock with music box and moving people. Played part of Emperor's Waltz on the hour. Another on the half?
Do not knowhere it is.
I placed grain-of-wheat bulbs, one under the roof to lighthe people and dial and another behind the "game pouch" below to lighthe pendulum and wall.
Another behind and againsthe roof leaf border to gently lighthe wall and ceiling.
Niceffect in a room with less light!